Captain's Challenge
by Enchanted Disaster
Summary: First try at POTC. Set after the second movie where Jack is swallowed by the Kraken and thrown onto a deserted island with a halfwild young woman. How will he get back to his ship once he realizes he can't leave her behind?


**So this is my first attempt at Pirates of the Caribbean that I've posted for all to see. I'm not so sure I got Jack's character down perfectly, or if my story is just a bunch of bull. If it's bull, just tell me. Not afraid for some constructive criticism. I won't even be offended if you tell me that I should trash it. It IS my first posted attempt. GIMME FEED BACK! Also, this story occurs after the second movie. Thanks to reading Kilala81's "Lost in Translation" I got into a big POTC frenzy and decided to attempt to post my own fanfic on it. You all should read her stuff, it's AMAZING. Very talented author. **

**Disclaimer: If it wasn't obvious, I don't own rights to Pirates of the Caribbean or any characters in it. GASP! **

**Captain's Challenge**

Everything was black. Well, for a few moments that is. He sat up and fumbled for a few matches his kept within his belt and grimaced slightly at the feeling of slime covering him. As his fingers continued to search for the matches he cursed, "Where the bloody hell am I?"

Once he found the matches he struck a few of them to find they failed to work and gave his match book a contemplating, curious look, "Oh…" a slight frown appeared on his lips before finally one worked and he grinned broadly, having to restrain himself from animating his excitement. Once the fire burned a little more he started to carry it around what he thought as a cave, sheltering the flame from blowing out.

The frown returned to his face as he spotted a pair of glowing eyes, "Well, I'm guessing this wouldn't be the Pearl, now would it?"

Whatever it was that stared at him growled harshly and leapt for him and as he quickly brandished his rapier and let it run through the strange human-like creature, "Hmm, I suppose not."

Finally he stood up and stumbled around a bit on the squishy surface and noticed the deep rumbling that seemed to surround him. He watched his flame beginning to flicker and die out and decided to explore a bit more before it did decide to betray him. As he made his way over to what he supposed was a wall, he bent over and had to steady himself because whatever 'room' he was misfortunate enough to be in seemed to dislike his moving.

"All in good fun, eh savvy?" He glared slightly at the 'wall' and sat down heavily, reaching for his rum bottle only to find it had gone a-wall. He groaned and stretched his legs out apart a bit and let his arms rest heavily on the ground between his legs. His first thoughts were to ask himself whether he'd been too drunk to remember what had just happened or not.

And then he remembered the burning feeling upon his lips and then a strange sense of hurt pride and betrayal. Her face appeared in his vision and he glared at the 'ground' of the great beast he sat in, "Pretty wenches get me every time."

Yes, so the great Captain Jack Sparrow had been tricked by the cunning, rich little strumpet known as Elizabeth Swann. He glared only a moment before he smiled a little to himself and shrugged his shoulders. The lass was turning out to be quite a pirate, and in fact had been a rather good kisser. But of course, none of that was worth being stuck in the belly of the slobbering Kraken.

"Best be getting on me way then, mate." He gestured to the great beast's belly he lay within and then stood up, taking out yet another match and standing while he fumbled at his belt to find something that would cause an explosive effect. He gazed curiously at his little bag of gun powder and then spotted a skeleton with a whiskey flask and grabbed it up, commenting to the skeleton as if it were alive, "Hope you won't be missin' this, mate. Afraid I need it more than you." He tilted his head slightly to the side and examined his few objects curiously. It was feasible that such a plan would work, because he was, well, Captain Jack Sparrow of course.

He held the flask out at arms length and began to pour the powder into it while bending his knees slightly, watching it all amusingly through the dark. He even began to hum to himself while he struck up the match and held it a foot over the flask and looked around him and shrugged slightly, "It's for the best, savvy?"

With that he dropped the match in the flask and threw it even as it exploded slightly into his face, into the center of the beast's belly. He ran wickedly fast as far as he could from the flask even if he knew that the explosion wouldn't be much. But within a few seconds he was excitedly surprised that fire seemed to react viciously with the acid within the Kraken's belly.

He could hear the beast screeching and groaning even as Jack grabbed his hat and shoved it firmly onto his head and watched the wave of Kraken vomit speed its way towards him. Not exactly his ideal way of exiting, but it would do. As he was caught up in it and launched nearly half a mile away from the creature he hollered a bit and laughed triumphantly… That was, until, he landed unceremoniously in the water with bits and pieces of the miscellaneous items that had resided within the Kraken and its stomach acid raining down upon him.

Not much luck, but oh well. He grabbed on to a piece of the Pearl that still remained within the Kraken and hauled his body onto it and sat, watching in amusement as the Kraken remained thrashing out within the clear blue waters of the Caribbean.

But when the Kraken began advancing towards him in a rage Jack's smile quickly faded from his face and he grabbed the closest thing to him, an arm of his friendly skeleton companion, and began to rapidly paddle towards what seemed like a shore.

His mouth was open and panting with his effort as he made his way quickly across the ocean on a wave the Kraken was creating in front on him from its thrashing. A few precarious moments passed by until suddenly he found himself thrown onto beach and stumbling across it. He caught himself on his hands and knees, a few inches from the beach's sands and scrambled up, running a little further inland to the trees and watched as a horrible groan emitted itself from the distressed Kraken and it stopped at the shore of the beach.

"HAH! Another time, mate! Remember that it was Captain Jack Sparrow that beat you at your own game!" He yelled enthusiastically while waving the arm he had paddled himself to shore with around in the air without quite thinking about it.

A silly grin remained pinned across his face as he watched the beast make its way back into the depths of the sea. After a few minutes of watching it retreat he began to inspect the island he was now a patron of and hoped to find some rum.

When he realized that it was nothing but sand and jungle he growled and plopped himself onto the beach finally realized that he still held the arm bones and scrunched his nose up distastefully at it and threw it away from. For a few moments he felt uncharacteristically unhappy with his circumstances but finally decided to just lay back and relax a few moments.

What was meant to be a few moments turned to be a few hours of a deep sleep until he woke with a start, with a face hovering above his. At first he didn't realize that it was only a girl so had his rapier brandished and was waving about him wildly only to watch the person quickly skitter back.

He sat up abruptly and pointed it at her and then looked up into the sky, his mouth slightly open as he sighed and said lazily as if nothing had happened, "Best not to frighten sleeping men with weapons, eh deary?"

She eyed him suspiciously for a few moments before he realized she must be retarded or couldn't understand him, so he went for a different sort of explanation, as he waved his hands around fluently trying to express to her he meant no harm, "I MEAN NO HARM, UNDERSTAND, SAVVY?"

To his obvious dumbed down version that was rather literally yelled at her as if she were deaf she spoke harshly, "I am neither deaf nor dumb, so don't treat me as if I am."

He jerked his head back a bit in surprise before he smiled and shrugged with one shoulder, "Fair enough, but you do look like a half-wild crazy running about in just barely your skivvies covered in dirt."

She smirked harshly at him and scrunched her nose up slightly in disgust, "You smell about as good as you look, if you don't mind my saying."

He paused a moment before falling back on his elbows to look up at her curiously, "Thank you for the compliment, love. I was aiming for that."

He grinned and watched the curious woman glare at him and make an odd growling noise. The noise seemed to fit her personality; even if he'd just met her he did brandish a rather useful skill of judging people well. Her tanned and muddy body which was barely covered by a few rags made him guess at what ethnicity she really was. Hispanic? No, the voice was too straight edge. English? No, no that couldn't be it because she held a sense of angry brutality about her and her voice mirrored it, throwing out the chance that she was English because it lacked any sort of the English's musical tone. Islander? No, even with all the mud she was still not dark enough for that and he could spot a few freckles upon her face.

Dark, unruly hair, a strong jaw, full mouth, strong, lean and muscular frame. Nope, no, nothing about her seemed strikingly familiar. He hadn't realized she'd been talking through all his thinking and examining until she kicked him slightly.

"Well, who are you and what was the tremendous beast I just saw retching you up? You must be horribly disgusting if such a beast's stomach couldn't hold you." Her green eyes slightly glared at him, wondering what he was thinking about. He didn't seem like the sort of man she could trust, even if she hadn't been around any people for a while.

"Kraken, dear." He waved off the other question as if he hadn't heard it and he looked at her curiously, popping the random quarry that had been bothering him so for the past 5 minutes, "What are you, might I ask?"

When she gave him an astonished glare he knew he'd phrased it wrong and she shook her head, sticking out her jaw a little in her irritation, "I am a woman, or are you too dull witted to figure that one out?"

He waved his hands about and started to become a bit irritated himself, "No, what heritage? Where are you from? What do you do? Who are your people?" For some reason beyond himself he wanted to know all of that. Usually he could instantly tell where a person was from and such by just looking at them and sometimes talking a bit with him. Maybe she was Irish? No, the Irish usually avoided the Caribbean from what he'd noticed.

She gave him a suspicious glare before huddling down a yard away from him, "I'm Scottish if you must know. Now answer my question."

"And what question would that be, love? You're Scottish? Should have guessed from the almost man-like movements you make. You had me fooled, I had come to believe that Scottish women looked the same as the men. Bloody bit of fortune that they don't, else you'd have been mistaken for a lad and probably dead as of now." He grinned a bit too nicely at her and watched as she continued to bear holes into his being.

Her deadliest glare seemed to have no effect on him, to her surprise, so she cleared her throat and imitated the voice he'd used with her before, as if he were deaf or dumb, "WHO ARE YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND, SAVVY?"

He leaned back a bit further to stare at her curiously and then smiled charmingly at her, "Why didn't you ask so in the first place, love? No reason for you to get your panties up in a bunch over it. You've probably heard of me before, the names Captain Jack Sparrow." He had been inspecting his nails throughout their last bit of conversation and finally looked up at her and flashed her a brilliant smile filled with gold as he presented her with his hand which was now void of one of his rings, due to his last escape from certain shackles placed upon him by a certain seducing woman.

She looked at his hand in slight disgust before she took it and shook it with one harsh shake, "Actually, no. I've never heard of you. I supposed you're some inconsequential sailor that believes he's not as half-assed as he is and thinks he should belong in some legend. Sorry to break it to you, babe, but you're quite the opposite. I mean, proper sailors ATLEAST don't smell like Kraken vomit."

"Pirate." He stated obviously as he signaled to himself and gave her a tight smile. Something about her irritated him just enough that he'd like to see if she could swim tied up with the Kraken chasing her. Not usual for him to think of doing to such a pretty young lass.

"Pirate? A captain?" She pointed at him and gave a harsh, lilting laugh, "And I'd as soon make a queen. Now, laddy, you've been so gracefully dropped upon MY island, would you mind telling me why and how you came upon such a fortunate event?"

"Laddy?! The names Captain Jack Sparrow, and I'll have you know that I'm a very consequential man here in the Caribbean and know all about the islands. I've certainly never heard of an island run by a woman, much less by a lass as young as yourself!" He was waving his hands in a very animated way to try and make her believe that he was a very important pirate but all the while he was only further convincing her that he was a little off the hinge.

"Well, seeing as there are no other human inhabitants on my island, I'd say that I run it. And I'd have you know that I'm near twenty by now, if I've counted correctly." She was still squatting a yard or so away from him and trying to be convincing.

"Aye, then you're still but a lass, love. And I'll have you know that I'm no lad, but a very strong man… Who as of this moment needs a bit of rum to help said person figure this tangle out. Now, where do you keep the rum?" He looked at her seriously for a moment or two before he gave a charming smile to maybe help convince the wench to move along a little faster.

She decided to play his game and completely ignored the fact that he'd asked her a question, "So, Sparrow is it? How old are you for you to be figuring that you're not a lad anymore? You look rather young to me." Her voice was becoming a bit crackled because she wasn't used to using it anymore. Occasionally when the silence drove her to the brink she would talk out loud to herself, but nothing had prepared her for having a conversation with a suspiciously daft pirate.

He frowned a moment when she changed the topic from rum and stood up, stretching and looking out to sea, "I'd say I've spent near thirty years gracing this miraculous world with my presence. Now, be a dear and tell me where the rum is."

((I'm well aware that Johnny Depp is not in his thirties but in his forties, but I've decided to make his character younger for this story.))

A wicked grin ran across her face as she looked at him incredously, "I'm sorry to report that I as of now contain no rum upon my island. Neither do I have any whiskey, wine, beer, scotch, or any other drink that would be considered booze." She watched as his face became a bit crestfallen and angry, "Does that report distress you?"

He looked at her with bit of a glare before he began to swagger down the beach, "Since I have no ship as of now I shall commandeer this island! I am captain now, and… you shall be my crew!" he pointed to a few monkeys and such that were peering curiously out at him. They were used to the young woman but not some weird, babbling pirate who was now turning to look at the girl when he realized she was standing right in front of him with a scowl upon her lovely face. He paused and looked directly down at her since they were now but half a foot apart.

"You as well? Maybe I can make you a wench, but only if you be abiding by me rules. I'm afraid I didn't catch a name, lass." He had to admit, even if the girl was quite a bit shorter than himself, looking down into the face of a raging woman was a bit intimidating. Especially one that was more likely to somehow sick a mob of crazed monkeys on him sooner than she'd humor him.

"So you assume that just since you landed on my island and you're a man that within a few hours of your arriving you can instantly walk around like you own it? I fear you have miscalculated something in your plan, especially if you believe that I'd be a WHORE to you." She glared up at him, now grabbing the front of his shirt so he wouldn't try and back away from her. The smell was horrendous.

He lifted his arm up so he wouldn't bump her and snaked it in between them and gently began removing her fingers from his shirt, while busy looking a little disgusted, "Name?"

"And it matters to you, why?" She can't help but feel a bit upset at this man just landing on her island and assuming that he was "Captain" over it.

"I do enjoy knowing the names of people that will be enjoying the company of myself for a while, love." He Still remained near her, but felt more comfortable with her not gripping the front of his shirt so harshly. He'd sized her up properly, he'd realized. Strong of will and fierce, not a woman to mess around with.

Finally she consented due to the intense look he was giving her, "Edana Cameron." She fidgeted bit under his glare. She wasn't used to having others eyes upon her any longer, if at all.

He took her jaw in his hand and examined her facial features a bit, "Edana. Pretty name. Now that wasn't too hard of a thing to do, now was it love?"

For a moment she couldn't tear her eyes away from his and she was silent, a very uncommon thing for her. After a moment she tore her eyes away from his and said uncomfortably, "Sparrow, you are in desperate need of a wash."

He let go of her face and raised his hands in defeat while walking back a few steps before turning his back to her again, "Then I suppose I'll take a bath, for your delicate nose. I'd advise one for you as well." He turned and gave her a wink as he began to remove his belt and then the rest of his clothes.

When he was just left in his pants she glared at him and stalked over to him, halting his hand at his pants and he smirked, "What, you want to do it for me, love?"

She growled a little in disgust and slapped his hands away from his pants and said angrily, "I may be half wild, but is STILL improper for you to just go tossing your clothes off in front of me! At least wait until I've left until you do so."

"And what would your definition of being gone be? Would this…" He picked her up simply and tossed her over his shoulder before walking down the beach and depositing her in the now clean sea, "Be considered gone?"

He grinned wickedly as he watched her splutter a bit and leap up, her eyes dancing with anger. It was surprising to him that he'd just met her and already had an attraction growing towards her, even as she yelled at him, "I can't believe you just did that!"

He inspected his nails as he simply followed her in and began bathing in his pants, washing his other clothes with apparent interest. A few times he gave them a sharp shake because even if he was a non-hygienic pirate, having clothes that smelled of Kraken vomit did not appeal to him in the least. His entire interest seemed to be on his clothes and himself, though he did realize that the girl was wading angrily towards him.

She was a foot away from him again, obviously the woman had no idea what personal space was… Well, not that he had much of an idea about it either, but he was sure this girl lacked in that form of politeness. And now she was yelling loudly enough to disturb him so he looked up at her curiously and pretended to show her his clothes, "Why not have a sniff and test them out, lass? See if they're to your liking."

The frustrated puff he got from her was more than enjoyable before she grabbed on his bands of hair and pulled his ear down to her so he could 'hear' her, "Are you not listening to me at all, you stupid sailor?!"

The girl had a thing or two to learn about dealing with pirates, that was for sure. If he'd been any other pirate stranded on this island, he was almost positive that the girl would have already been used and killed for food. He sighed heavily, "No? They still smell peculiar to you? Hmm, must scrub harder then."

She let go of his hair and he smiled a little to himself even as he swayed a bit. Even if he was stranded on an island without his ship or crew, his short stay would be enjoyable. Maybe he'd bring the little spitfire along with him to try her out as a pirate. She definitely had the guts to do it, if not the common sense. Again he was letting what she said go in one ear and out the other.

He finally looked down at her once he'd realized she'd silenced and had crossed her arms, looking at him with an expectant glance, "Oh, you wish to know why I dumped you in the water? I thought you'd benefit from a little swim. It sure is hot on this island. I wonder where the rum is…"

Finally she calmed down a bit and sighed, shaking her head. Not only was it extremely odd that she was still stranded on an island, but she now had a pirate as a companion that she was arguing with like she'd known him forever after only a couple of hours.

She found him infuriating. Even as she scrubbed her skin and hair she felt like she could chuck something at him. Maybe it was just her natural inability to get along with others, carrying on to an even higher level of hostility now that she hadn't spent any time with people for a long time.

After a while she made her way to the beach where he was sitting next to his drying clothes in his pants while drying himself as well. She sat down next to him, and prepared herself to speak to him, even if he did have his eyes closed. She sighed heavily and brought her knees up to herself, "I apologize for being so… Irritated with you. I had no right, since I just met you and all. I'm sure you're a perfectly respectable man."

He opened one eye to look at her as if she were crazy. Most people didn't react to him so openly, and even rarer a person would apologize for being so rash, "Only done what's right by you lass. No reason for you to go apologizing for it."

"Right." She shifted nervously on the sand next to him before saying, "I've got some supplies of food if you want some. Just a bunch of fruit and some dried meat, but it helps fight the hunger."

This was even more of an unexpected turn. Free food? It sounded simply, "Wonderful! Shall we proceed?"

She nodded her head and stood up, with him following along behind her towards her little make-shift hut in the jungle filled with supplies.


End file.
